The plane, the pursuit of LeBron James ... Twitter was at its finest Sunday

It can be a forum for faceless trolls to send hateful messages to celebrities or random strangers.

But Sunday, July 6, was like nothing we’ve ever seen.

Yesterday, Twitter was crazier than Metta World Peace, but in the best possible way — like the time the athlete formerly known as Ron Artest thanked his psychologist minutes after helping the Lakers win the 2010 NBA championship.

What ensued was wild even by social media standards — Cavs fans rejoicing as if James was coming home, Heat fans telling them how wrong they were, and neutral parties adding fuel to the back-and-forth.

What made it even more strange was the fact that, until later in the night, most members of the national and local media stayed completely out of it.

The Fan’s reporters were on the case all day, but most of the other outlets were not.

Until ESPN’s Chris Broussard chimed in.

Cleveland has replaced Miami as my frontrunner to land LeBron James...

Later in the night, word broke that James would meet face-to-face with Heat president Pat Riley “in the next two or three days.”

Does that mean LeBron, who has learned his lesson following the public-relations wreckage of “The Decision,” wants to give Riley the courtesy of letting him know he’s returning to the Cavs before the official announcement is made?

Does it mean the Heat will get one last pitch to retain James’ services?

Your guess is every bit as good as mine.

And why not take a wild guess? Everyone else is.

In the last few days, we’ve heard from QTip, a rapper and producer best known for his days with A Tribe Called Quest, say he’s “hearing from inside sources” that James “is heading back to Cleveland.”

A day after QTip’s scoop, Caroline’s Cupcakes in Canton made national news with a post on its Facebook page that “#TheReturn to Cleveland is a done deal.”

The bakery’s source: “A friend who is directly tied in with Lebron and his camp.”

QTip, Caroline’s Cupcakes and Zumock have nothing on Joshua Teplitz, a Cleveland personal trainer who went on a tweeting rampage July 4 that generated quite a bit of attention.

Teplitz now has almost 27,000 followers, many of whom have probably enjoyed his inside information.

Teplitz wrote that he was “lucky enough to be around this information.”

The dirt — according to the trainer who, if Twitter can tell us everything we need to know about a person, enjoys tattoos, shirtless pictures of himself and his new boat — was that James “has returned” to the Cavs.

Teplitz finished his optimistic tweet with “Have a great July 4th, Go Cavs.”

The next day, Teplitz said James’ decision will be announced “as early as Wednesday.”

No rush, LeBron.

We’re enjoying this even more than you.

Three for the road

• How powerful is LeBron? The story of Gilbert’s plane, and who may or may not be on it, completely squashed what could be a huge Browns story — Josh Gordon’s arrest in North Carolina.

• This paragraph from Fox Sports Ohio reporter Sam Amico on Monday morning tells you everything you need to know about how ridiculous James’ free agency can get:

“Several sources told FOX Sports Ohio that Ilgauskas was not on the plane. Rather, it was said he was already in Miami. Sources also said the Cavs took an entire group there. Meanwhile, some sources would neither confirm nor deny anything involving the Cavs, Florida, or James because of the sensitivity of the subject.”

“Sources” is definitely the buzzword for July.

• The Indians are doing a very smart thing when it comes to pitcher Corey Kluber’s chances of making the American League All-Star team.

Kluber is one of five AL players whose All-Star candidacy is being decided by an online vote, and the Indians’ Twitter account has been a hilarious combination of “vote for Kluber” and fan-submitted pics of the subdued pitcher being involved in everything from space travel to sumo wrestling to super hero poses.